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Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner Jr. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Edited by GARY BECKMAN, RICHARD BEAL, and GREGORY MCMAHON. Winona Lake, Indiana: EISENBRAUNS, 2003. Pp. xxiv + 406, illus. $59.50.
This volume is a collection of studies from thirty-four leading Hittitologists, primarily in English, but also in German, French, and Italian, dedicated to Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., himself a prominent Hittitologist, longtime professor at the University of Chicago, and for many years editor, along with H. G. Güterbock, of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary. It includes a full bibliography of Harry Hoffner's publications, as well as comprehensive indices. The volume appeared some four years after the articles were submitted (see, e.g., p. 348). Only selected articles will be commented upon here.
A. Archi brings out the importance of not confusing the Old, Middle, and Neo-Hittite linguistic and paléographie scheme with the historical situation, which does not lend itself to the term Middle Kingdom. He would rather designate the period from Hattusili I through the predecessors of Tudhaliya I (I/II) as the Old Kingdom, and the period from Tudbaliya I to Suppiluliuma I as the Early Empire period. He emphasizes Tudhaliya's military successes, which laid the groundwork for the Empire period, as well as the massive influx of Human cultural elements at around the same time.
R. Beal presents a thorough discussion of the complex issue of the predecessors of Hattusili I, mercifully providing genealogical charts for what he considers the two most likely alternative reconstructions. ' Among other points that should find acceptance are Beal's rejection of the claim that Hattusili I's self-legitimation through the Tawananna in the incipit of his Annals indicates a remnant of matriarchy, his rejection of the suggestion that this titulary is a late Empire insertion; his acceptance that the oft-debated section of the list of offerings to deceased royalty in which Huzziya, Kantuzzili, PU-Sarruma, Tudhaliya, Papahdilmah, and Labarna (= Hattusili I) appear indeed refers to the beginnings of the Old Kingdom, despite the occurrence of a Human name; perhaps also his dating of the Zalpa legend to the time of Hattusili I, and his alternative identifications of the king, the grandfather of the king, the "old king," and the "father of the old king," all...